KENT LINEBACK

LOWELL KENT LINEBACK
NOVEMBER 19, 1943 - APRIL 2, 2024
Santa Fe - Craftsman of Words, Gentle Leader, Lover of Ideas
Kent Lineback died peacefully from complications of pneumonia at St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on April 2, 2024, with his wife Carol Franco by his side.
Lowell Kent Lineback, who preferred to go by his middle name "Kent," was born November 19, 1943, in Bremerton, Washington, the son of Shirley Frank and Ethel (Shellberg) Lineback. Kent's family relocated to Anderson, a small town at the northern tip of California's Central Valley, in the late 1940s, where he graduated as valedictorian from Anderson Union High School in 1961. He liked to tell his kids stories of summers spent working in the local sawmill and hunting rabbits. Having been raised as a Southern Baptist, Kent in his early days was dedicated to reading the Bible and questioning the mysteries of faith-something that remained with him throughout his life.
In 1961, he left to attend Harvard College, the cost of which was covered in part by a work scholarship. He joined Dunster House in his sophomore year and studied history, earning his B.A. with honors in 1965.
In 1964, he married Linda (Lichacz), who had just begun her nursing career at Massachusetts General Hospital. After graduating from Harvard in 1965, he began working for UPI, first in Boston and then in Buffalo, NY. It had been his dream to go into broadcast journalism, but, due in part to the Vietnam War, he instead went on to earn his MBA at Boston College in 1968. Following that, he went to work for Sterling Livingston at the Sterling Institute in Boston as a consultant until 1972, when he and his growing family relocated to Springfield, Virginia. He continued his consulting work with the Sterling Institute, running management development projects for Fortune 500 companies. After that, he managed business administration for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). In 1975, he led the marketing team for the Boston-based professional publisher Warren Gorham & Lamont, and he and his family relocated to the bucolic town of Carlisle, Massachusetts. After a brief return to the Sterling Institute as a project manager from 1978–1980, Kent began work in marketing at New England Business Services (NEBS) in Groton, Massachusetts, a national manufacturer and seller of business products. There, he built a successful computer product start-up before leading the company's main division through a strategic reorganization. While working at NEBS, Kent also self-published a subscription-based newsletter and wrote a book about the craft of managing people. In 1992, marking a career shift, Kent joined Harvard Business School Publishing, where he co-lead the production of film and video management and development programs, a position he held until 1997.
Kent met his "soulmate," Carol Franco, in the early 1990s while they both were working at Harvard Business School Publishing. They married in 2004, and after living close to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for several years, they moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2005. Kent, a self-described "New Englander at heart," discovered a fresh love for the high desert setting, embracing the rugged beauty and artistic riches of his new home.
In the late 1990s, he began co-authoring and collaborating with more than 20 authors of business books. His first book, co-authored with Randy Komisar, was The Monk and the Riddle, which became a Business Week bestseller and was later selected by the magazine as one of the "Best Business Books of All Time." Other authors or co-authors he worked with included his wife, Carol, several Harvard faculty members, the CEO of L.L. Bean, Leon Gorman, Michigan Governor (2003–2011), and current U.S. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, as well as numerous prominent academics and consultants. He was the co-author, with Harvard Business School Professor Linda Hill, of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader, as well as a co-author of Collective Genius along with Linda Hill, Greg Brandeau, and Emily Stecker Truelove.
In memory of Kent, his co-authors expressed that "for the many who read his work, Kent was a gifted writer. For the few who were blessed to work with him, as were we, he was a compassionate leader, patient teacher, and friend. He often astonished us with his uncanny ability to take complex or under-conceptualized ideas and make them clearer, stronger, and more accessible. His incisive mind, quick wit, and generous spirit were ever-present." Executive Editor Jeff Kehoe remembers Kent as "a wise soul and a warm spirit" who brought "consummate skill and genuine leadership wisdom to every project" and who "cared deeply, and it showed in his work, always."
A diagnosis of Crohn's disease in the early 1980s inspired Kent to start writing a newsletter for people living with Crohn's and IBS called "The Community," which he continued publishing as a one-man operation for several years, enlisting his children to help fold and stuff it into envelopes every month. Crohn's disease and managing the after-effects of the many surgeries associated with it proved to be challenges that Kent carefully and courageously managed for the rest of his life.
When Kent's three children went off to college, he kept in touch with each of them via weekly letters he wrote by hand with his beloved fountain pens on his trademark blue stationery, letters that kept them abreast of the goings-on in his life and that imparted heartfelt encouragement and pearls of personal wisdom ("Kentisms"). He often advised his children to "work according to a plan."
Kent took delight in Santa Fe's vivid sunsets; he enjoyed collecting the art of New Mexico's indigenous peoples; he eagerly kept up on current events, reading The New York Times and The Economist daily; he was a prolific reader in general who adored history in particular and was capable of remembering a huge array of facts; he loved ideas and discussing them, and he loved words; he always had classical music playing on his radio at home, the notes a constant whisper in the background; he was very fond of strong sweetened black tea; he enjoyed watching and scrutinizing the latest popular movie releases with his wife and friends; and he absolutely loved sitting in his comfy leather chair in the living room while engaging in much of the above.
Kent is survived by his wife Carol Franco of Santa Fe, New Mexico; his former wife and the mother of his three children Linda Lineback of Carlisle, Massachusetts; his sister Marcia Keeline and husband Robert of Palo Cedro, California, and their three children; his son Eric Lineback and wife Carla of Dummerston, Vermont; his daughter Lauren Lineback and husband Joe Cavicchi of Arlington, Massachusetts; his daughter Lesley Shearer and husband Rich of Scarsdale, New York; his cherished grandchildren Ted, Phoebe, and Hadley Shearer, Nate Cavicchi, and Alina Lineback; as well as many colleagues and friends too numerous to name.
Donations may be made in his memory to the National Book Foundation (https://www.nationalbook.org/make-a-donation/) or the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation (https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/).